Inverness tomorrow!

I'm all packed and ready to go!! Took most of the day (with lots of faffing around in between packing each item), but I have finally packed up my suitcase, which just about weighs under 20kg, according to our wildly inaccurate bathroom scales anyways!! Hopefully I won't get charged more when I get to the airport, but you never know. Got quite a bit of stuff to put in my hand luggage, including this laptop, but hopefully it will all fit in the bag! As well as all of that, I have a few more things that my dad is going to freight up to me once I find somewhere permanent to live, but its only a couple of things really so should be fine :)

So! My dad is picking me up at 0745 tomorrow morning to take me to Luton airport (which is very kind of him!), so I can get my flight at 0930, and should be in Inverness by 1100!! Sorted! Then just gotta hang around till the hostel opens and then go look at a couple of house shares in the evening! Friday and Saturday will involve more looking at houses, until I find one that is nice, has nice people living there, is in a good location, and not too expensive and then I can move in and start living it up in Scotland! I'm so excited!! The only downside is that the SHYA hostel is fully booked for Friday night. So I'm staying there on Thursday night, then moving to a different hostel for the Friday night and possibly the Saturday too! ...Hopefully they will both be nice!
And then I start my fun new job on Monday and get to see Slavonian Grebes for the first time ever! And I will be introduced to some of the sites, and to all of the people I'll be working with, which I'm really looking forward to!

Wish me luck in finding a new place to live, and for my first day in my new job!

UPDATE!

So. After spending quite a bit of time hunting around with my dad for a decent, yet cheap, little car, we found a very nice little Ford Fiesta for under £900 and in very good condition! Winner! My dad had already got me a Satnav, which I had registered and set up, and I bought some insurance for the car so that I could drive it home. All set. :)

Then I check my emails and realise that actually a car ISN'T necessary for this job, as I can use the two RSPB cars to get to Loch Ruthven!

So I had a decision to make:

EITHER
Buy the car so that I can drive up to Inverness with all my stuff, use it to get to the site and back and have my petrol re-imbursed, and so that I can get around more easily on weekends.

OR,
Don't buy the car, cancel the insurance, use the RSPB cars to get to the site, and either walk or use buses to get around the Inverness area on the weekends. Saving me around £2000 in total.

I think you can guess what I chose to do! So unfortunately, I am not the proud new owner of a nice little car, but I will be will be able to actually save some money from this job. And if I get there and realise that actually a car would be massively useful, I'll have more time and money to find one up there. AND it means I don't have to stress so much right now! Which is awesome!

The only slight downside is that I now have a satnav that I don't have a whole lot of use for right now (and the shop won't take it back since I've opened it and registered it etc), but I'm going to have to get a car at some point in the next few years, hopefully when I've got some more money, so it will be very useful then :)

Also, I now have to fly up to Inverness, as it is MUCH cheaper and easier than getting the train (which takes 9 hours and involves changing trains about 3 times) but it does mean that I might have to have some luggage packed up and sent to me if I can't fit it all on the flight. But thats no big worry really, and hopefully won't cost a lot, so it's all good!!

Now all I've got to do is book a flight, pack all my stuff, and find somewhere to live! Shouldn't be too hard...right?? Wish me luck!

Cars!

Going with my dad to look at cars tomorrow and Thursday, hopefully I will be able to find something decent and fairly cheap, so that I can get all of the paperwork out of the way and get in some driving practice before the long (and kinda scary) journey to Inverness! If I can't find a car in time, I'll have to either get a train up there or get my dad to take me, and then attempt to find a car whilst I'm there - could be quite difficult though, as I know nothing about cars!!

So wish me luck in finding a decent one, and if you know of any being sold, please let me know!

Preparation

Hi Everyone,

In case you don't already know, I've got a shiny new job! And now a new blog to go with it! For six months this summer, I'll be working for the RSPB up at Loch Ruthven near Inverness, monitoring the breeding success of Slavonian Grebes! Very excited! The only issue now is that I need to find a place to live in Inverness, and I need to get a car so that I can get up there! All in 2 WEEKS!!! Very stressful, so wish me luck!

If anyone knows of someone in Inverness who is looking for a flat mate, or anyone that wants to sell a car, let me know!!